In a stellar celebration of life and achievement, Dan Pettit, America's oldest astronaut, has marked his 70th birthday by returning to Earth from an extraordinary space mission.

The Soyuz MS-26 capsule gracefully landed in the vast Kazakhstan steppe at 06:20 local time (01:20 GMT) on Sunday, bringing home Pettit along with his Russian counterparts, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.

After an awe-inspiring 220 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where they circled the Earth a staggering 3,520 times, the crew has shifted from the cosmos back to earthly bounds. Pettit now boasts a remarkable total of 590 days spent in space over four missions!

While Pettit is a living legend, he falls short of the record for the oldest person to venture into space—a title held by John Glenn, who defied gravity at the age of 77 during a NASA mission in 1998.

Now that they've returned, the team of space pioneers will take some necessary time to readjust to Earth's gravity. Pettit will soon make his way to Houston, Texas, for some well-deserved rest and recovery, while Ovchinin and Vagner will head back to Russia’s premier training base in Zvyozdniy Gorodok.

Before bidding farewell to their orbital home, the crew ceremoniously handed over command of the ISS to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, marking yet another pivotal moment in their historic journey.

As we celebrate Pettit's incredible journey, let’s reflect on the boundless possibilities of space exploration and what the future holds for these intrepid explorers!